None.
The present invention relates generally to the art of laminating sheets of media such as copy paper with a protective glossy surface coat and, more particularly, to separating the carrier layer which transports a lamination coat to the media sheet from a lamination stock roll.
Lamination stock comprises a flexible plastic carrier having lamination coat material removably affixed to the carrier. The coating material is a micro thin plastic which includes an adhesive for retaining the coat material on the media to be laminated. The micro thin coating material frequently does not cleanly separate form the trailing edge of a laminated media sheet. Undesirable coating material often extends and subsequently break off in small pieces from the trailing edges of laminated media sheets and the small pieces tend to statically adhere to equipment, clothing and sheets with which they come into contact. This material, known in the industry as TAG, is generally transparent and of extremely light weight due to its thinness and thus tends to contaminate the lamination area and result in imperfections in laminated sheets to which the TAG has adhered. It has been noted that much of the TAG is in the form of a thin tail or tail pieces which extend from the trailing edge of a sheet which has been laminated and from which the lamination carrier has been removed.
It is accordingly an objective of the present invention to improve the lamination process by eliminating TAG particularly at the trailing edge of laminated sheets.
The present invention therefore provides a method of laminating sheets of media comprising the steps of:
a) feeding a carrier having a lamination coat removably adhered thereon to a bight between opposed lamination rollers;
b) moving a sheet of media to be laminated to said bight in surface to surface contact with said lamination coat;
c) continuing to move said sheet and adhering said lamination coat to said sheet by application of pressure to said media and carrier by said opposed rollers;
d) removing said carrier from a laminated sheet at a point downstream of said rollers; and
The present invention further provides an apparatus for laminating a sheet of media comprising:
a) a support for sheets of media to be laminated;
b) a pair of opposed lamination rollers and means for rotating said lamination rollers to move a media sheet and a carrier having a lamination coat thereon in surface to surface contact with said sheet through a bight between said rollers;
c) a carrier separator for guiding movement of said carrier during removal of said carrier from a laminated sheet, said separator having a corner for holding said carrier in engagement with a laminated sheet;
d) a puller for tensioning a carrier around said corner to remove a carrier from a laminated sheet; and
e) a sheet guide to cause a trailing edge of a laminated sheet to resiliently deflect and separate from removed carrier.
e) biasing said moving sheet transversely to a direction of sheet movement to cause a trailing edge of said sheet to resiliently straighten and move away from said carrier as a trailing edge of said sheet passes said point.